Practice Makes…

Well, in my case practice rarely makes perfect. In fact, it seems the more I practice something, the worse I get at it. At least short term.

For the past three days (maybe four now, I’m delirious) I’ve been trying to capture the first assignment for Week 2 of the Simplicity SLR class I’m taking. It seemed simple enough:

Capture water: 1) at a fast shutter speed to freeze it and 2) at a slow shutter speed to capture its motion.

I’ve captured a couple of “frozen” water shots before, so I thought I had this in the bag! I have a tripod, what else is needed to get a long exposure to come out right?

Bah.

Day One I staged a ridiculous setup outside. It was very early in the afternoon and the sun was HARSH. I didn’t have anything white, so I set up some towels to provide shade using the frame of our jumparoo (we’ve disassembled it, but keep the frame around because the kids like using it as a tent).

I broke out my new remote shutter release my husband got me for Christmas and tried to get the shot using my pets’ water dish and a ball from the yard. 100 clicks later and I didn’t have anything I could use for my slow shutter speed shot, though there was one “frozen” photo I liked only minimally underexposed.

I took it inside and my problems underexposing only got worse. I repeated the experiment over and over again, only to come out with some cool “frozen” water shots I liked only when they were corrected in Photoshop. I didn’t learn from my mistakes (stop using 1/500s!) and I didn’t get ANY slow shutter speed shots that I liked even if I did correct the terrible exposure.

Finally today I was able to get something that I feel is at least exposed fairly well straight out of the camera. I can’t say I’m in love with these shots at all, but I’m tired of trying and trying to get this one right.

So what have I learned from the nearly 600 exposures it took me to get two adequate shots? Mostly that I’m really bad at math. And that the next time I try to take a long exposure shot of water, there better be a beautiful creek or waterfall involved because if I look at the inside of my kitchen sink anymore, I’m going to go insane.

Now YOU Try It!

Okay, maybe I did learn a little something taking all these shots.

Here are some tips to stop water in time with a fast shutter speed:

1. Use Shutter Priority mode. One of the reasons it took me so long to get a properly exposed shot is because I was trying to do it 100% manual and I’m still learning how to shoot manually. This is a technically complex shot, so let your camera do the math while you do the art.
2. The more light you have surrounding your set up, the better!
3. Set your shutter speed to something fast. I’d recommend 1/30s or faster.
4. If you’re like me and want to try it all manual, I’d recommend using a slightly higher ISO and a wide aperture (f/5 or smaller) as these things will let you choose the quickest shutter speed possible.
5. If you’re using flash (works great to stop time!) and manually exposing, you will need to underexpose just a tad according to the light meter. If you’re in shutter priority, you may need to change your exposure compensation. (Check your camera manual for details.)
6. Look at your histogram to see how evenly balanced your exposure is. That was the mistake I made. I had my camera set on “the blinkies”, which means it shows me highlights that are blown-out/overexposed in the shot. Because of the reflection of my sink and the flash, I thought my exposures were a lot brighter than they actually turned out.

And although I don’t prefer these types of shots (at least indoors), I have a few tips for long exposure water shots as well:

1. Use a tripod. If you don’t have a tripod, find something you can set your camera on to keep it still during the shot.
2. Use a remote shutter release OR set your self-timer if you don’t have one. The vibration from your finger hitting the shutter will ruin a long exposure shot.
3. Again, I recommend shutter priority mode. Start with about half a second and slow the shutter speed from there.
4. For manual exposures, choose a low ISO and narrow aperture (f/10 or higher) as that will allow you to select the slowest possible shutter speed.

During my trials and tribulations with the water experiment this week, one of my Twitter friends, @chrissy217 shared this great, simple article she wrote discussing these same techniques! Check it out over at Hoot Photography: Tip Me Tuesday – Shutter Speed.

If you’ve taken any water shots lately, I’d love it if you wanted to share in the comments! (You can post the image using HTML in the comments, just please do not exceed 300px.)